Chronicling a Bad Year for Disney in 2022

People being mad at Disney is nothing new—the hashtag #BoycottDisney has been circulating the likes of social media for many years now. But for quite a few reasons, people are once again calling for the hashtag’s return, hoping to light a proverbial fire under the company’s butt. But why exactly are people so upset with Disney this year? Aside from a few of the more obvious reasons, some lesser-known ones also have people calling to #BoycottDisney. Here’s a breakdown of all the reasons why people are mad at Disney this year.

Anger over Disney Parks

To begin with, Disney’s price tags have been hiked up quite a bit. Several of Disney’s new attractions that launched this year have performed terribly—and one such attraction was the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser immersion program.

The steep $4,000 price tag drove many interested parties away, however—and even those who paid for the program found nothing new or interesting about it. Additionally, FastPass was pulled in favor of Genie+ Lightning Lane, which cost money (as opposed to the free FastPass system), had several technical issues on its launch day, and was overall less efficient.

LGBTQ+ controversy at Disney

Additionally, Disney had a hard time responding to LGBTQ+ controversy this year. This year, Florida passed the controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which Disney’s board had originally funded and supported. However, when an enormous amount of Disney employees left to protest the bill, Disney tried to backpedal and put out a statement—but it was too late and damage had been done. Additionally, Disney failed to respond well to criticism when they included a same-sex kissing scene in the movie Lightyear. Due to outrage at the scene, Disney removed the scene, but was then forced to put it right back into the movie, further pulling them between groups of outcry.

Due to mishaps in their public handling, Disney has struggled to find its footing this year. Between its poor public responses and a multitude of other factors, the company’s woes have allowed it to lose $4 billion in its 2022 fiscal year. The company doesn’t seem too interested in shifting its gears for 2023, but time will tell if the company will learn from its public mistakes—and cost setting.

(featured image: Octavio Jones/Getty Images)